Any sign of supply chain returning to normal?

Fri May 20 08:15:14 UTC 2022

On 5/19/22 15:27, Dave Taht wrote:

> As I've been saying for a while, instead of buying new kit, perhaps we
> could spend some time on getting better software onto our older kit?
> Getting stuff to multiplex better, be more reliable, last longer?

So we've been running Arista's 7508E devices as core switches in data 
centres to support 1Gbps, 10Gbps and 100Gbps internal cabling (purely 
Layer 2, no IP).

We suddenly got told that they are now EoS/EoL some time back (I 
probably should have done a better job tracking this, but I tend to rely 
on vendor notifications for that based on my Cisco/Juniper experience). 
So Arista advised we move to the 7508R3, which doesn't make sense for us 
because we are currently only using 2x slots from the chassis, and 
nowhere close to max'ing out the line card or switch fabric capacity.

It just didn't make sense to us to spend hundreds-of-thousands of $$ for 
no extra benefit in performance or technology (Layer 2 is very simple).

So we decided to keep the the 7508E, even if they are EoL. The box is 
brain-dead, runs fine, shifts bits nice and good, and hums along quietly.

I can't fathom why a box like that has already been EoL'ed. It isn't 
long in the tooth, and still has plenty of bite in it. But, we also need 
to use common sense, and for us, swapping it out just to maintain 
"support" isn't worth the cash. There are options for cold sparing...

Mark.
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